Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Sometimes writers get lucky, and their first novel becomes a best seller. But with the risk of being labeled a one-hit wonder, writing a second best seller can be more challenging then finding the right gown for the Oscars.
More than one chick-lit writer has been dubbed the darling of the genre only to be cut off at her Manolos by a sorry sophomore effort. Last year, Lauren Weisberger, author of the delicious The Devil Wears Prada, fell flat on her perfectly made-up face with her second book, Everyone Worth Knowing.
And four years ago, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus were the talk of the town when The Nanny Diaries sold more than 2 million copies. Unfortunately, their second novel, Citizen Girl, was as entertaining as finding nothing in your size at a Prada sample sale.
And now here comes The Debutante Divorcee, the second book by Plum Sykes, whose Bergdorf Blondes was such a hit in 2004 that it could be found stuffed into just about every designer bag in Manhattan.
Well, guess what? Divorcee is scrumptious. It's a silly, frothy, shallow story of spoiled, rich bubble-headed women -- and that's why it works. It doesn't try to be any more than it is: a satirical look at the ridiculous lengths to which the rich and power hungry will go to "impress" other rich people.
Divorcee is mostly the story of newlywed Sylvie Mortimer, who spends too much time with debutante divorcees. They were the husband-hunting "Park Avenue Princesses" in Bergdorf Blondes. The honeymooning Sylvie meets a few of them celebrating their divorce honeymoons in Mexico.
And quicker than you can say "Faberge cuff links," the dilettante debutantes convince Sylvie that her husband, Hunter, is having an affair. It's then that The Debutante Divorcee takes on the heady air of a Jane Austen-like romantic comedy of errors.
Instead of confronting Hunter, Sylvie spends time with her self-absorbed new friends and tags along to important events such as divorce showers, where each designer-begowned guest must bring an eligible bachelor, and power christenings, where babies are taken under the wing of 14 godparents who include "super-hot hedge fund managers" and captains of industry.
We may laugh, but boy, do these ditzy dames take themselves seriously.
Divorcee Tinsley can't work "because I can't dress for day. I can only dress for evening ... obviously office life doesn't work for me."
The "Gorgeous West Village Wives ... never seem to leave the house without their epidermis glowing in the manner of a girl who has just had spectacular sex ... even while pushing a Bugaboo Frog on six-inch Roger Vivier heels."
Sykes, who writes about fashion, society and Hollywood for Vogue, has an eye for good taste and high couture but also has the smarts to see that poking fun at the self-besotted is a time-honored tradition in the social-comedy genre.
The Debutante Divorcee
By Plum Sykes
Miramax, 250 pp., $23.95
To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.usatoday.com
© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
